From J.J. Abrams and former LOST executive producer, Elizabeth Sarnoff, who rewrote the Alcatraz Pilot script , through Bad Robot Productions, comes another science fiction-mystery drama centered around the infamous prison, Alcatraz, which debuts next fall on FOX.

Just these past few weeks more plot details and casting news has started to surface with the first being former LOST star, Jorge Garcia, has been given a leading role.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back an island...

Only six months removed from the finale of "Lost," Jorge Garcia is heading towards one of the most infamous island prisons of all time: "Alcatraz." According to Deadline, Garcia has signed on to play a "hippy geek" named Dr. Diego Soto, who just happens to be the world's foremost expert on the former prison.

The announcement also revealed further details about the plot of the show. "Alcatraz" will reportedly be centered upon a group of missing Alcatraz guards and prisoners who mysteriously reappear in the modern day. It also follows an FBI team assigned to track them down and learn the truth behind their disappearance.

Just a story to share with you, the day Alcatraz was announced I received a first edition book which I purchased through Ebay. One of my favorite films is a not so well known film titled, "The Jacket". The Film is loosely based on Jack London's novel, "The Star Rover", and since "The Jacket" is one of my favorite films I thought I should give the novel ago. --The Jacket features a soldier who ends up in a mental institution, who gets experimented on, by given cock tail drugs, put into a straight jacket, and thrown in a morgue drawer...he time travels to the future..."The Star Rover" is about a man who goes to prison in the late 1800's. He is put into a straight jacket and time travels to the past, where it is revealed he has lived past lives, as the book becomes more clearly about reincarnation through time travel.

---I kept thinking about this in relation to Alcatraz as I would expect that the prisoners mysterious escape would revolve around the same thing, because I couldn't imagine seeing all 60 year old in mates and prison guards being cast. With more casting news just out today, along with plot details, may suggest I am correct.

Alcatraz follows an FBI team tracking several inmates and guards who disappeared prior to the iconic prison’s close in the 1960s – only to resurface, presumably via time travel, in the present day.

It’s an impressive and original premise, and should offer TV audiences something fresh when other networks are content to rely on steady stream of standard cop shows. Jones will play an FBI agent while Garcia gets a spot as a “hippy geek” who happens to be the world’s foremost expert on Alcatraz Island. Bryan Burke also gets executive producer credit, and Danny Cannon (co-creator, TNT’s Dark Blue) will direct.

Following the casting of Lost alum Jorge Garcia in the J.J. Abrams-produced Fox pilot Alcatraz, Abrams has recruited two more actors who have appeared on his previous series - Jonny Coyne and Jason Butler Harner."

Coyne, who did a two-episode arc on Abrams' NBC drama Undercovers this fall, will play the lead role of Alcatraz Warden Edwin James. Harner, who guest starred in the pilot for Abrams' Fringe, will play the supporting role of Associate Warden E.B. Tiller who enjoys and abuses his power. More Here:http://www.deadline.com/2010/12/two-more-board-j-j-abrams-pilot-alcatraz/

Sam Neill Joins the Cast!

Sam Neill has done a myriad of different films with just the right amount of gravitas. Now it looks like he’ll be bringing his talents to the small screen as Deadline reports the actor has landed a role in J.J. Abrams mysterious new series Alcatraz over at Fox. Neill will play Emerson Hauser, the head of a government agency who radiates authority and piercing intelligence. The story itself follows a team of FBI agents and a female police officer (previously announced Sarah Jones) as they track down a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day after disappearing 30 years ago.

Robert Forster and Parminder Nagra Join Cast!

“E.R” alum Nagra is playing lab technician, Lucy; and old-school coolio Robert Forster (“Alligator”, “Jackie Brown”, “Mulholland Drive”) is playing Ray Archer, a retired detective who is now owner/bartender of a cop hangout bar.

While looking up information about Alcatraz over Thanksgiving weekend, I found out that on Thanksgiving is one of the only days in which prison tours are not given. The reason why is because it is a day set aside for Native Americans to have a festival.

Early use of Alcatraz Island by the indigenous people is difficult to reconstruct, as most tribal and village history was recorded and passed down generation-to-generation as an oral history of the people. A large portion of this oral history has been lost as a result of the huge reduction of the California Indian population following European contact and exploration. It appears that Alcatraz was used as a place of isolation or ostracization for tribal members who had violated a tribal law or taboo, as a camping spot, an area for gathering foods, especially bird eggs and sea-life, and that Alcatraz was utilized also as a hiding place for many Indians attempting to escape from the enslaving California Mission system...More Here:http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7420472-thanksgiving-gathering-indigenous-people-gather-annually-on-alcatraz

Some rather famous criminals have been sentenced to Alcatraz such of the likes of Gangster, Al Capone.

Often tales of ghosts and unexplainable phenom have been told from inmates, guards, ect through out the history of the prison.

The Following is from Wikipedia:

By decision of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the penitentiary was closed on March 21, 1963. It was closed because it was far more expensive to operate than other prisons (nearly $10 per prisoner per day, as opposed to $3 per prisoner per day at Atlanta),[30] half a century of salt water saturation had severely eroded the buildings, and the bay was being badly polluted by the sewage from the approximately 250 inmates and 60 Bureau of Prisons families on the island. The United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, a traditional land-bound prison, opened that same year to serve as a replacement for Alcatraz.

The first Spaniard to document the island was Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775, who charted San Francisco Bay and named the island "La Isla de los Alcatraces," which translates as "The Island of the Pelicans,"[4][5][6][7][8][9] from the archaic Spanish alcatraz, "pelican", a word which was borrowed originally from Arabic: القطرس al-qaṭrās, meaning sea eagle.[10]

I would also be curious if we will see refrences from many of the Alcatraz films, such as "The Rock" or "The Birdman of Alcatraz"?!

Last edited by DarthLocke on Mon May 16, 2011 3:32 pm, edited 11 times in total.

Yet for all their evolution, they form no bonds.Love does not exist for them. They are incapable of dreaming,Of contemplating beauty, Of knowing something greater than themselves.

Alcatraz was my Statue of Liberty. Lived within spitting distance of it my whole life but never actually visited it until I was 36. It was pretty cool. I'm still disappointed that they won't be filming this show here. It's wrong I tell ya!

deneph wrote:Alcatraz was my Statue of Liberty. Lived within spitting distance of it my whole life but never actually visited it until I was 36. It was pretty cool. I'm still disappointed that they won't be filming this show here. It's wrong I tell ya!

It is too bad they can't film there, but I imagine it would be SO expensive if they did. That's really cool that you have lived in San Fransisco for most of your life. I have always wanted to visit, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I hope you share more info about the tour with us! Is there anything that you learned that was just absolutely bizzar or amazing???

Yet for all their evolution, they form no bonds.Love does not exist for them. They are incapable of dreaming,Of contemplating beauty, Of knowing something greater than themselves.

deneph wrote:Alcatraz was my Statue of Liberty. Lived within spitting distance of it my whole life but never actually visited it until I was 36. It was pretty cool. I'm still disappointed that they won't be filming this show here. It's wrong I tell ya!

According to online sources they will be filming some on The Rock (I'd guess b-roll mostly). As the Park Service does not allow filming to interrupt visitation, and as everything needs to be barged out and back, it's unlikely that they would be planning to regularly film on the island.

I work on Alcatraz, and will follow this forum but will not be able to comment on anything which might be confidential (i.e. things I know because I work here). I worked the last two Hollywood shoots on the island (Murder in the First and The Rock) and had to be cautious that I wasn't putting out info inappropriately.

I'm glad to hear that Alcatraz is being referred to as a "Science Fiction/Mystery", it's always a bit of a nuisance for us on the island when Hollywood claims their project is "based" on a true story when in fact it's not. People can be so gullible. We actually had visitors claim we were trying to cover up the truth about Henri Young when Murder in the First came out, when in fact the screenwriter admitted it was a totally made up story he wrote, and it was the production company that threw in a few "facts" so they could claim it was "inspired by true events".

-- Merged Double Post --

BTW, most historians think the island originally named by the Spanish "Alcatraces" (after the strange birds they saw) was in fact Yerba Buena, and that a British map maker later mistakenly put "Alcatraces" on the island today known as Alcatraz (thanks to the US Army having trouble with the Spanish spelling). Yerba Buena was originally a small town in what is now San Francisco. Mistakes make history.

So far it seems that the cast will not just comprise of FBI agents, but rather a small group of people interpooling resources...

But I do hope we do get a lot more cast...we haven't even heard anything about 'the prisoners' yet.

PS: Notice some of these characters names already have an Abrams-LOST association....Rebecca Madsen = Rebecca Madder, Diego was the name of Hugo's brother in LOST, Emerson Hauser = Micheal Emerson, Ray Archer = a lot of Rays were woven into LOST such as Ray Shepphard...Edwin James James Ford, Edwin is related in name origin to Eddie and thus Edward, there were a bunch of Eddie's in LOST as well...Lucy = Charlie Pace was dating a British lady named Lucy, whom he liked, but also stole from in order to obtain money for drugs...Although Nagra is of indian decent, she was born and raised in the UK -making her character most likely British as well.

Yet for all their evolution, they form no bonds.Love does not exist for them. They are incapable of dreaming,Of contemplating beauty, Of knowing something greater than themselves.

Speculation:So I was thinking about Robert Forster's character's name, Ray Archer. If I were to read into it, I would say he will be a character who will occasionally 'light the way', or rather has much knowledge --his name alludes to a being that has a bow and perhaps 'flame' arrows, pointing maybe to the Greek Mythological Sagittarius, or Chiron who was educated by Apollo, whom was known for his gift of destiny, music, and knowledge. (may then be 'a red shirt') In addition it alludes to a [tribal] hunter, or searcher...in the opening post I mentioned the Island has native american roots, both as a place where native american's placed their out cast, but also as a place to hide from the Californian Mission. I don't know if the history of this Island will be exploited, but the characters name makes me think that it is a possibility.

The character, Emerson Hauser played by Jurassic Park actor, Sam Neill, may have to do with being a man who either protects/controls/shelters someone or something. Hauser's origins lie in 'Das Haus" which is German for "House" and the suffex "-er" which then could translate to Houser: a man of the house, an authority figure, or one who protects and gives shelter to others. In addition there may be an Alias connection, not just a LOST connection (Michael Emerson). There is a character in season 5's episode, "The Road Home" named Sam Hauser. Ultimately this a great name for a guy who heads a Government Agency, a man who's job is to protect and keep 'his house' in order. But something tells me he is going to be a multi-faceted character...

Last edited by DarthLocke on Fri Jan 21, 2011 5:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yet for all their evolution, they form no bonds.Love does not exist for them. They are incapable of dreaming,Of contemplating beauty, Of knowing something greater than themselves.

So while checking to see if there was anything new, I stumbled upon the following poster! I have no idea if it is official or fan made, but either way I think it's pretty cool! If you look at the writing it is designed to have the ends of both sides of the word "alcatraz" (alc--raz) to be bent--perhaps then suggesting time travel!

Today an interview with J.J. Abrams surfaced in which he gave insights to several of his upcoming film and television projects. The Following is what he had to say about Alcatraz:

ABRAMS: We do. We have a few projects. We have a show for Fox called Alcatraz, that starts shooting on the 19th, which I could not be more excited about.

Is Alcatraz actually about Alcatraz?

ABRAMS: Alcatraz does involve Alcatraz.

Will it be shot in the actual prison?

ABRAMS: Some will be, yes. There are sets being built, but there will be some of the pilot shot in San Francisco at Alcatraz.

What is the series about?

ABRAMS: I don’t want to give anything away because no one wants to hear that, but I will say that it’s a beautifully written and surprisingly emotional script, although not surprising when you know that Liz Sarnoff wrote it. She’s amazing. The show is about an incredibly odd and mysterious turn and secret about the prison of Alcatraz, and a modern-day mystery that involves something very odd that happened there 50 years ago.

Who have you cast?

ABRAMS: The cast is unbelievable. It’s Sam Neill, Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia from Lost – who was the first person we cast and is just the greatest with an amazing role – and Johnny Coyne, who’s an amazing English actor. We have a spectacular cast. There are a number of other actors and it is wonderful. I’m really excited about the show.

So not too much new, but at least we know for sure some of "Alcatraz" is being filmed in the San Fransisco's Prison and that filming is starting very soon! --That means we should start getting more news!

Yet for all their evolution, they form no bonds.Love does not exist for them. They are incapable of dreaming,Of contemplating beauty, Of knowing something greater than themselves.

There has been a few Pilot shows arising recently, a lot of them sound pretty awesome. This one included. I'm not sure what to make of Jorge Garcia's role though... It's just not something I could see him doing too well. Let's hope I'm proven wrong! But yeah, can't wait for this one! Is it true it's going to air in 2013?

Two Sides wrote:There has been a few Pilot shows arising recently, a lot of them sound pretty awesome. This one included. I'm not sure what to make of Jorge Garcia's role though... It's just not something I could see him doing too well. Let's hope I'm proven wrong! But yeah, can't wait for this one! Is it true it's going to air in 2013?

And that's a nice looking poster!

I dunno. I think his role will be similar, except he may have a lot of knowlege (it would be like if we would see Hugo 5 to 10 years after he has been "Jacob-esque" and learned a bunch of stuff about the history of the Island.) Abrams a lot of times has these great side-kicky characters (Javier, Marshal, Astrid, Hoyt) and I think this could be one of his bests, because Garcia has this way of not only being a comic relief, but he also has tremendus heart and soul.

I am looking forward to seeing him.

Yet for all their evolution, they form no bonds.Love does not exist for them. They are incapable of dreaming,Of contemplating beauty, Of knowing something greater than themselves.